BIDS have been invited for three major arts projects worth more than £200,000.

The Cultural Spring, a three-year Arts Council funded initiative working in 10 wards across Wearside and South Tyneside, is looking for artists, groups or arts organisations to lead three season-based projects for its 2015-2016 programme.

The first commission, worth up to £65,000, is for an Autumn Lights project which will run later this year in association with the National Glass Centre.

Rebecca Ball, project director at The Cultural Spring, said: “Our ambition is for a project that will enable thousands of people across our 10 wards to come together and engage as creators, participants and audience members.

“We’ll be particularly interested in projects that will engage with or respond to 2015 being the Year of Drawing, and the successful bid will provide opportunities for local residents to get involved in visual arts, discovering new passions and learning new skills.”

The second commission, Winter Tales, is for a story-telling project based around the tradition of stories being shared on dark winter nights, and is worth up to £40,000. Preparatory work will start over the summer, with the project being realised early next year.

The Cultural Spring 2016 project is the largest commission, with a budget of up to £100,000.

Rebecca explained: “Our launch event was the Great North Passion, a large-scale project which we worked on with the BBC. Our Cultural Spring 2015 project is RUSH, a mass movement performance in partnership with Southpaw, Novak Collective and Event International which will be performed in front of the historic St Hilda’s Engine Shed in South Shields on Easter Sunday.

“For next year’s project we’ll again be looking for a one-off, large-scale performance – something with a real wow factor. We’d expect it to take place in Sunderland or South Tyneside in April next year, with work beginning this September.

The deadline for applications is noon on Monday, March 23. For more information, go to www.theculturalspring.org.uk/artists/commission-opportunities